After playing for
Gaz Metan Mediaș in
Divizia B, Ciupe made his top-flight debut on 31 July 2004 as a
Sportul Studențesc player, in a match against
Unirea Alba-Iulia. Playing for the
Romania national under-21 football team in a match against
Macedonia, he was fouled by
Goran Popov and suffered a broken
tibia. Minutes earlier, another Macedonian player,
Hristijan Kirovski, was
sent off after also fouling Ciupe. The right-back completely missed the 2005–2006 season because of the injury. Ciupe played seven years for Sportul Studențesc before joining
FC Brașov in November 2011. In June 2012 he was transferred by his hometown team
Universitatea Cluj for whom he managed to score his first goals in
Liga I, against
Astra Ploiești and the local rivals from
CFR Cluj. ==References==